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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24742774">Petrified</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal'>ruff_ethereal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Mythology, Ancient Greece, F/F, Medusa!Marianne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:14:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,074</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24742774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Hilda stumbled into a cute medusa's home was an accident. The second time was intentional.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hilda Valentine Goneril &amp; Claude von Riegan, Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>74</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The only thing Ancient and Grecian about any of this is the mythology it takes inspiration from. Otherwise, expect a lot of anachronistic dialog.</p>
<p>Inspired by this tweet by @ilvernaa: https://twitter.com/ilvernaa/status/1271898822717784064</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time was an accident.</p>
<p>Hilda was trying to avoid work like usual and she couldn’t find anyone who would agree to do it for her before her latest (and most unfairly, annoyingly, <em>frighteningly </em>persistent) minder would find her, drag her back, and watch over Hilda like she was Argus Panoptes until her work was completely done and up to standard.</p>
<p>Hilda was just looking for a cave, someplace that would be just out of sight and way that Byleth could conceivably miss her, without her having to expend that much effort.</p>
<p>Hilda hadn’t expected it to actually be the mouth of a hole leading to a <em>very </em>steep drop, where she fell who-knows-how-long-and-how-far-down then found herself in some creepy ruins.</p>
<p>“Ugh...” Hilda groaned.</p>
<p>She wasn’t injured. The Goneril and their storied line were much tougher than that. She was, however, filthy, dirty, and pissed, because <em>of course, </em>it’d be almost impossible to go back up the way she came.</p>
<p>She <em>could</em>, of course, use her ax and her Crest bearer’s strength to gradually dig handholds in the wall and spend the next hour or so climbing her way back out—but that was far too much work, so she chopped off a sturdy, dry piece of root from the wall, lit it by releasing the tiniest bit of flame from one of her jars of the elements, then started exploring just how far this tunnel went and where.</p>
<p>One thing was immediately obvious: this place had animals—lots of them.</p>
<p>Hilda had never seen so many different types of burrowing animals all congregating together—you’d think some of them would start complaining about the lack of food or space and just pack up and move somewhere else than engaging in a bloody war for resources, unlike how civilized people did.</p>
<p>The second thing was that they were all surprisingly tame.</p>
<p>Yes, they hissed and they growled, yes, they shirked from her torch when she waved it at them, but none of them attacked even if Hilda was (completely, accidentally, <em>totally </em>not intentionally) barging into their home. She quietly hoped that this wasn’t some ancient sanctuary still protected by the goddess, because the last thing she needed was for her or her surviving children to get angry at her and bring a curse down on her entire bloodline.</p>
<p>With her luck so far today, it might even be her family’s patron—and <em>that </em>would surely fly well with Holst.</p>
<p>Fortunately, though, this wasn’t a sanctuary protected by a goddess—it was some cute girl's hideaway.</p>
<p>Hilda hesitated to call other girls beautiful because of how her looks set the bar so high, but whoever this girl was, she was <em>beautiful</em>. Not in the same way as Hilda, no, no—she had a fragile, elegant delicacy about her and a warm and caring aura, especially with how sat on an ancient altar, cradling what looked to be animal babies in her lap.</p>
<p>Hilda usually considered burrowing animals disgusting creatures that kept tunneling their way into the Goneril manor’s storehouses and ruining all the good stuff they were saving for special occasions, so it said a <em>lot </em>about this girl’s attractiveness that she could make them cute by proximity.</p>
<p>What also spoke volumes was Hilda not realizing that her makeshift torch was rapidly burning out until the hair on the back of her hand was already ablaze.</p>
<p>Hilda yelled as she tossed her torch away, it crashed onto some ancient stone floor and snuffed itself out. They were plunged in darkness, Hilda could only hear the animal babies squeal and squeak in terror, the girl quickly whispering words and strange sounds to calm them back down.</p>
<p>“Sorry about that!” Hilda yelled. “I just… sort of accidentally fell down a hole and crashed into your hideaway.” After a moment, she quickly added, “I have done <em>absolutely nothing </em>to the animals, by the way!”</p>
<p>Silence reigned heavy in the darkness, except for the chatter and the whimpers of the animals. Hilda wondered if she had done said something wrong—not likely, but certainly <em>possible</em>—when the girl spoke up.</p>
<p>Her voice was so delicate, so soft, Hilda was surprised to hear her say these words:</p>
<p>“Please leave. Now. Before I hurt you.”</p>
<p>“Excuse me?” Hilda asked.</p>
<p>“You said you fell in here from a hole?” the girl said. “From the direction you came from, you must have been west of the Locket. Put your hand along the walls and go into any of the human-sized tunnels you find. Feel along for the markers on the walls whenever there’s a split and you’ll find yourself above ground in no time.”</p>
<p>“Ahh… any chance you could guide me there yourself?” Hilda asked. “Sorry to impose, but if you come with me, there’s a better chance I’ll be out of your hair without any further problems.”</p>
<p>“No. I can’t. I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>"Can I at least know your name, then?" Hilda asked. "I'm the daughter of the Goneril family—you know, the one that runs and protects the locket? I can get you and your animal friends plenty of good stuff as thanks for leading me out of here and back home."</p>
<p>“No!” she hissed.</p>
<p>Hilda panicked as she heard snakes. “Are those snakes?” she asked, trying to keep her cool.</p>
<p>“… Yes, they are,” the girl said. “Leave here at once and don’t tell anyone about this place.”</p>
<p>“Right, in that case, I’m just going to shine a light so I don’t end up tripping on some snakes and getting bitten,” Hilda said as she reached out for her bottled sunlight.</p>
<p>“Wait, no, don’t--!”</p>
<p>Too late—Hilda was already unsealing the bottle, releasing the tiniest bit of light possible. It wasn’t a blinding flash for either of them, but it did illuminate the cave enough for Hilda and the girl to see each other eye-to-eye.</p>
<p>Hilda thought of three things in quick succession:</p>
<p>"Oh, wow, a pretty face like that should smile more often, she's doing herself a real disservice.</p>
<p>"Wait, what? Why can't I move? Why does everything feel so stiff and painful?</p>
<p>“Oh! She’s a medusa. She’s been trying to avoid turning me to stone this entire time and now I’ve screwed that plan up.”</p>
<p>As Hilda found herself rapidly petrifying, starting from her fingers and toes proceeding inwards to her chest and finally to her head, she figured this mysterious monster girl wasn’t the worst last thing to see before she died.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sensation of being cured of petrification was… unpleasant, to say the least.</p>
<p>The way Holst talked about being cleansed of the various poisons, magical burns, paralysis, and other myriad afflictions of this world, the healing light of the goddess was a miraculous cure that instantly let him continue his heroic feats unimpeded.</p>
<p>In Hilda’s experience, it was pain,<em><span> pain</span></em>, more pain, plus an entirely different sort of pain to top it all off—you know, for variety’s sake.</p>
<p>Her petrified skin began to crack, flake off, then crumble to dust as they fell, before it felt raw and agonizingly tender afterward. Her heart was frantically, erratically beating, her muscles ached and burned, her brain couldn’t <em>quite </em>keep up with the sheer number of agonizing experiences happening all at once. Her first breaths were desperate, panicked gulps for air, then a scream of pain until it hurt too much to continue.</p>
<p>Eventually, her body relearned how to live and calmed down, whoever had broken her out of her stony prison was kind enough to catch her and gently lay her down on a cot.</p>
<p>It wasn’t her luxurious soft bed, but anything was better than the cold stone floor.</p>
<p>And even if Byleth was the one to have cured her petrification—well, better than being dead, Hilda supposed.</p>
<p>“You’re excused from work until you fully recover,” Byleth said.</p>
<p>“Ah,” Hilda croaked—her throat felt parched, which wasn’t all that surprising all things considered.</p>
<p>Ever-prepared, Byleth poured some wine into her mouth—it was the good stuff, too.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Hilda said.</p>
<p>“You can thank us all by completing all the extra work you’ll get after you’re better,” Byleth said.</p>
<p>Hilda sighed. “Gosh, you sure do you know how to ruin a moment, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“I’m not here to be your friend,” Byleth said before she got up and left, the Goneril family servants quickly taking over for her.</p>
<p>Holst eventually found time out of his busy schedule to visit Hilda. (In her room—neither she nor anyone else would stand to just leave her out in a cot in the middle of their mansion). At first, he was furious with her irresponsibility, then almost in tears at the thought of losing his beloved sister, then finally just calm.</p>
<p>“You don’t understand just how lucky you are, Hilda, that that medusa did not kill you,” he finished.</p>
<p>And as it always tended to be when you’ve just recovered from death, Hilda finally remembered the girl—no, the <em>monster </em>girl. “What happened to her?” she asked.</p>
<p>“I do not know,” Holst said. “Byleth was the one who managed to find you out in a field, petrified, and took great pains to haul you back here—without so much as a single ding, I must add. I only know it was a medusa as none of the goddess nor her messengers have gone complaining to us.”</p>
<p>“Do you think we can find her and talk to her?” Hilda asked.</p>
<p>Holst blinked. It was rare to see such a well-traveled, experienced, and adventurous man surprised, but when he was, oh, was it quite the sight to see. “Why…?” he finally managed to sputter.</p>
<p>“Ah… so I could apologize to her for intruding on her territory and everything?” Hilda replied. “I mean, she just wanted me out of her little animal sanctuary when I ran into it, I was the one that released some bottled sunlight and caused her to accidentally petrify me.”</p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>“You don’t believe me, do you?” Hilda asked.</p>
<p>“I do,” Holst said, “which is exactly why I <em>strongly</em> encourage you not to follow through on this whim. We have a pact with the monsters who live within our territories: they don’t bother us, we don’t bother them.</p>
<p>“You break that pact, Hilda, and I can’t guarantee your safety.”</p>
<p>“I understand,” Hilda said, nodding and trying to look like she understands the gravity of it all.</p>
<p>Holst does not buy it. But, he also has only so much time to visit his sister, so he leaves and quietly hopes for the best.</p>
<p>A week passes as Hilda recovers with the help of a new bland and boring “healing diet” and plenty of laying in bed resting with Byleth ensuring she <em>stays </em>there. It’s so tedious that Hilda is almost excited for the extra work she’ll need to do once the physicians finally give her her clean bill of health.</p>
<p>Almost.</p>
<p>On the day that finally happens, her best friend Claude is there to celebrate. As Claude is <em>also </em>a jerk, he does this by lounging dramatically on a couch that Hilda would inevitably pass by on her way out of her room, holding the perfectly roasted leg of some bird in one hand and a cup of wine with the other, the plate and the jug laying beneath him.</p>
<p>“Hey, Hilda!” he said as he raised his cup in greeting. “Want some? You’re going to be working hard for the next week or so, you’ll need your energy.”</p>
<p>“Move,” Hilda says flatly and because Claude is not <em>that </em>much of a jerk, he makes space for Hilda to sit beside her—though he still makes her rip off her piece and pour her cup of wine herself.</p>
<p>“So,” Claude asks as Hilda takes a big, juicy bite of meat, “after your punishment is done, what’s the plan? Aside from ‘Resume doing as little as possible’, that is.”</p>
<p>Hilda chewed through her mouthful, savored the first bite of actual flavor she’d had in a week, then said, “I’m going to find the medusa who petrified me.”</p>
<p>Claude pauses in the middle of drinking some more wine, his skilled, deft hands tilt his cup so nothing spills. “I’m sorry, is this going to turn into some kind of revenge story? Because you know how I feel about revenge stories.”</p>
<p>“It’s not a revenge story,” Hilda grumbled. “I just… want to know her name.”</p>
<p>Claude blinked, then he grinned. “Oh. <em>Oh! </em>It’s <em>that </em>kind of story.”</p>
<p>Hilda did not dignify that with a response nor did she throw her wine at him—even if it <em>wasn’t </em>the good stuff.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The second time was intentional.</p>
<p>It had been over a month since Hilda accidentally fallen down the hole to that medusa’s lair. She had wanted to go sooner, but A) she had all that extra work to get to, B) Byleth was watching her like Argus Panoptes the entire time and always had someone trustworthy to substitute her the few times she needed a break, and C) she needed Claude’s help but he also had his schemes that took up days to weeks of his time, and often Hilda’s time as well.</p>
<p>But now she had made up for her irresponsibility in Holst’s eyes, Byleth was no longer constantly watching over her, and Claude finally gave her his time and expertise, as he’d promised. (Or rather, he could no longer justify his attempts to get out of it.)</p>
<p>They set out of the Goneril manor, Claude made what could have been hours of fruitlessly searching into an hour’s worth of hiking—and that was only because they both agreed they would take it at a slow, easy pace.</p>
<p>Hilda smiled as she began to recognize the hill she had escaped to that day. It disappeared as she found the mouth of the hole very, <em>very </em>different from how remembered it.</p>
<p>“I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that these wooden boards, what I’m pretty sure are intentionally displayed traps, and this sign saying, ‘Turn back now. Only misery and death await you.’ weren’t here before,” Claude said.</p>
<p>“They weren't,” Hilda grumbled. “This used to just be a hole on the side of a hill! How did all of this get here?!”</p>
<p>“Maybe your medusa has friends who’re pretty good with tools?” Claude asked, smiling.</p>
<p>Hilda glared at him.</p>
<p>Claude dropped the mischievous look. “Okay, so even if we did know where all the other entrances are, I’m pretty sure that she’s had them boarded and booby-trapped as well.”</p>
<p>“Can’t you disable them and open it up yourself?” Hilda asked. “You’ve got that thief’s touch, don’t you?”</p>
<p>"No, and also no," Claude said. "You're thinking of Petra, who lives over in that archipelago quite a bit away from here."</p>
<p>"Then forgive me for assuming that a mischievous schemer like you would know how to break open locks and disable traps," Hilda said as she pulled her ax from her back. “You know, what I’m just going to force my way in.”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t recommend that, Hilda,” Claude said as he shook his head. “I don’t know how they work, exactly, but traps with signs like these are generally of the <em>pretty </em>nasty kind.”</p>
<p>“Looks like I’m finding out the hard way,” Hilda said as she swung.</p>
<p>A month later, Claude and Hilda were back with a third in tow.</p>
<p>“These traps, they are very complex and vicious,” Petra said as she carefully knelt in front of them, just shy of their trigger mechanisms. “Should one activate them, death or crippling injury awaits.”</p>
<p>“We<em> know,” </em>Hilda grumbled as she and Claude stood a good distance away, both sporting healing scars. “So do you think you can disable them?”</p>
<p>“No,” Petra said as she carefully got up and shook her head. “It would take <em>hours </em>just to learn how the mechanisms work, let alone learn how to safely disable them.”</p>
<p>“Oh, come on!” Hilda cried as she threw her arms up. “We went through <em>all </em>your ‘trials’ for two weeks, and <em>now </em>you're telling me that you can't do the thing we asked you to do?!"</p>
<p>“Such are the whims of Fate,” Petra said, shrugging. “However, my code of honor cannot allow me to leave you without at least trying to settle our deal in another manner.”</p>
<p>“I’m listening,” Hilda said.</p>
<p>“You say that a medusa lives here, did you not?” Petra said. “I doubt that she would be able to find all that she needs to live underground, even if she does feed on the creatures that make their homes here. She will likely have to leave at some point.”</p>
<p>“So you want us to scout out the next few miles around us, make a map of any other of these booby-trapped entrances and potential exits, and study the land to try and guess just how far this cavern system goes," Claude said.</p>
<p>“Yes, exactly," Petra said.</p>
<p>“Ughhh…!” Hilda groaned as she tilted her head skyward. “That sounds like so much <em>work!”</em></p>
<p>“I mean, it’s not like you haven’t already put in way more effort than I ever thought you could!” Claude said.</p>
<p>“That was because I thought it would lead to some results!" Hilda snapped. "All this is doing is convincing me that hard work doesn't <em>work!”</em></p>
<p>“I <em>can </em>take your admission of defeat as a sign that I am released from our contract,” Petra said. “However, I would like your permission to stay in your family’s territory a while longer still.”</p>
<p>“<em>Why?” </em>Hilda asked.</p>
<p>“I would like to meet this medusa that has so thoroughly captured your heart,” Petra said. “It would be, as your people say, a tragedy if we simply let it end here in frustration and dissatisfaction.”</p>
<p>“Same here,” Claude said. “I was just here because you forced me to, now I have to admit I’m just as invested.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” Hilda grumbled. “Three days, including this one. We’ll continue this <em>stupid </em>search for three more days. Then I’ll give up and you guys can just pursue this on your own time.”</p>
<p>Claude nodded as he pulled out a map from his bag and rolled it out on the ground. “So, based on my experiences hunting here and how much time it takes for us to get here from the Locket at a slow pace, this cave should be right around <em>here...”</em></p>
<p>They spent the rest of that day scoping out the area and ended up finding two more entrances that were clearly of the same handiwork and design. The next two days were spent keeping watch over the caves, surveying the surrounding area, or meeting up then switching places to help keep boredom at bay.</p>
<p>On the eve of the third and the last day, Hilda was making camp up in a tree as a vantage point and for safety. She put her telescope away, sighed, and gazed up at the starry night sky.</p>
<p>“<em>What am I doing…?” </em>she thought to herself.<em> “Why am I putting in all this work for a girl that probably doesn’t want to see me ever again? Goddess, one chance meeting and I’m as smitten as the old legends.”</em></p>
<p>Hilda sighed as she closed her eyes to sleep. Never mind Claude and Petra asking her to stay up until midnight in the hopes they would find something—she was done with this whole business.</p>
<p>The next morning, Hilda woke up to Claude and Petra waiting patiently at the base of her tree with a third.</p>
<p>"Your medusa asked me to pass along a message," Byleth said. "She wants you all to please stop, she's scared and can’t take it anymore.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You knew,” Hilda said.</p>
<p>There was no surprise in her voice. There was no anger. She said it as flatly and coolly as you could have pointed out that dawn was breaking.</p>
<p>She should have realized this sooner, honestly.</p>
<p>That medusa looked like a frail and delicate girl, and a monster or no, it would take quite some strength to safely haul a petrified Hilda without dropping her—strength that Byleth had.</p>
<p>The extra chores and the work that Byleth had her do may not have been related to the traps, but they certainly kept the only other person who knew about medusa’s hideaway from coming back before the new security systems had been put into place.</p>
<p>And for how on-top Byleth was on everything and anything that happened in the area, it wasn’t surprising that she knew and could contract someone very good with traps and security systems to construct all that for her.</p>
<p>“So are you going to stop, Hilda?” Byleth asked.</p>
<p>“No,” Hilda said as she jumped off the branch and landed on the grass. “I want to speak to her.”</p>
<p>“Why?” Byleth asked.</p>
<p>Hilda thought of using the many years of debating, public speech, and reasoning that her parents and the world around her had instilled in her to make a proper, aristocrat’s response. Then, she decided she had put in far more effort than she should have, and said:</p>
<p>“Because she’s cute and I want to get to know her better.”</p>
<p>Byleth nodded. “Give me a week,” she said before she headed off somewhere into the wilds.</p>
<p>“Take your time,” Hilda said as she lazily waved her hand, “I’m going to spending the next week doing absolutely <em>nothing.”</em></p>
<p>The three of them headed back to the Goneril manor. Petra and Claude had an animated conversation about how this long, convoluted misadventure might finally be ending, Hilda just tuned out everything, headed straight to her room and laid face-down in her nice, soft bed, ignoring anyone’s attempts to get her out of it.</p>
<p>Quite a lot less than a week later, Byleth came into her room and said, “She’s willing to see you now.”</p>
<p>“Has it been a week already?” Hilda asked as she lifted her head up from her pillow.</p>
<p>“No,” Byleth said as she pulled out a ball of silk from her pocket and tossed it at Hilda. “Put this on.”</p>
<p>“What is this?” Hilda asked as she unrolled it. “A shawl?”</p>
<p>“A blindfold,” Byleth replied.</p>
<p>Hilda sighed. “Of course. Silly me,” she said as she tied it on herself.</p>
<p>Byleth double-checked the knot, they spent a little over an hour hiking back to the hills.</p>
<p>At some point, Hilda felt the air around her change, the warmth of the sun suddenly disappearing, the wide-open space around her quickly turning into a cramped cave tunnel. She wondered if Byleth was just leading her to an elaborate trap or prank of Claude's design when she heard a familiar gasp and the sound of snakes hissing.</p>
<p>“Y-You came...” the medusa whispered.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I did,” Hilda said. She carefully held her hands out and said, “I’m sorry for scaring you. I was so focused on trying to find you again that I did not realize that you could totally, justifiably think I was trying to hunt you down.”</p>
<p>“Ah…” the medusa said. “But… do you really think I’m cute?”</p>
<p>“Uhh, yeah?" Hilda said. "I mean, I didn't get a very good look at your face for obvious reasons, but what I <em>did </em><span>see </span>was beautiful.”</p>
<p>She whispered something that Hilda could barely hear.</p>
<p>“What was that?” Hilda asked.</p>
<p>“I wish you could see you, too,” she said. “But then I’d just turn you to stone again.”</p>
<p>“I don’t mind turning into a rock again if it’s for you~!” Hilda hummed.</p>
<p>“But I do!” she cried. “Ahh, why did I even bother with this…?”</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, maybe we’re rushing things a little bit,” Hilda said as she held out her hands, she carefully stepped forward and felt around until her fingers hit the edge of a stone altar. “Why don’t we introduce each other first?” she said as she slowly sat down on it.</p>
<p>“My name’s Hilda,” she said as she held out her hand.</p>
<p>Very carefully, very slowly, a soft, gentle hand covered in stray animal hairs took it. “… My name is Marianne.”</p>
<p>“So, Marianne, I could just spend the next hour talking about the long, difficult adventure I’ve had trying to see you again...” Hilda started “… but, honestly, I just want to know more about you. So, what are you doing in this cave…?”</p>
<p>“… I like animals but I don’t like other people or monsters...” Marianne started.</p>
<p>Byleth remained on the side, quietly listening in and watching over this love-struck girl and the monster who was just as smitten.</p>
  </div></div>
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